Even Stephen King would cringe at a script like this.
Gordon Hayward, the unassuming, occasionally overlooked All-Star forward, made his Boston Celtics debut Tuesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, ready to prove why he arguably was the team’s most important offseason acquisition.
Instead, he exited Quicken Loans Arena on a stretcher after just five minutes of game time, potentially lost for the season with a horrific ankle injury that was too painful to re-watch.
You have to feel for Hayward, who finally reunited with head coach Brad Stevens and was primed to take his game to the next level. But time waits for no one: The Celtics play their home opener Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, and likely will play 80 games after that without Hayward’s services.
Hayward’s injury obviously changes Boston’s season outlook; expectations will be lowered, and challenging the Cavs for Eastern Conference supremacy will be a much taller task. It also changes the entire dynamic of this team, as players will be forced into larger roles than anticipated.
Who, you ask? Here are three players (and one non-player) whom the Celtics will lean on most to fill Hayward’s void.
1. Jaylen Brown. The silver lining from Tuesday night: Brown looked awesome. The 20-year-old dropped a career-high 25 points and played with supreme confidence on the offensive end. Boston will need that offense from Brown; Hayward averaged 21.9 points per game last season and was expected to be the No. 2 scoring option behind Kyrie Irving.
Hayward’s presence was expected to allow Brown to focus more on the defensive end as he develops offensively, but now, the former No. 3 overall pick must deliver on both ends of the floor. He’ll likely start at the wing, with Marcus Smart starting at guard alongside Irving.
2. Jayson Tatum. Welcome to the NBA, kid. Tatum was a luxury with Hayward in the mix; now, he’ll be asked to contribute consistent scoring from the wing. Hayward also was an above-average defender, though, and like Brown, Tatum now will have to expend more effort defensively guarding other teams’ top wing scorers.
Without Hayward, the Celtics’ depth at wing essentially consists of a 20-year-old, a 19-year-old and 22-year-old rookie Semi Ojeleye. Tatum handled himself well in his debut, but now, he’ll need to replicate his efforts on a nightly basis.
3. Marcus Morris. Morris is expected to miss the next couple games with an injury, but now, the C’s need him back as soon as possible. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound Hayward was expected to see time at power forward and guard bigger opponents, a task that now will fall more squarely on Morris.
He’ll likely start in the frontcourt alongside Al Horford when he comes back and could be asked to play wing on occasion, allowing Boston to lean less heavily on Brown and Tatum.
4. Brad Stevens. Stevens already faced a difficult task of determining lineup combinations with Hayward. Now, his biggest challenge might be managing minutes.
Brown and Tatum are essential assets with bright futures, and Stevens can’t run the risk of burning them out by asking them to carry all of Hayward’s burden. That means he’ll need to dig deeper into his bench, maximizing role players like Ojeleye, Guerschon Yabusele and Shane Larkin and becoming creative with his lineups.
Thumbnail photo via Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports Images
